Improvement in apparatus for aging liquors



H. G. DAYTON.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY G. DAYTON, OF MAYSVILLE, KENTUCKY.

IMPROVEMENT lN APPARATUS FOR AGlNG LIQUORS.

Specilication forming part of Letters Patent No. 184,464, dated November 21, 1876; application tiled August 28, 1876.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY G. DAYTON, of Maysville, Mason county, State of Kentucky, have invented, made, and applied to use Improvements in the Uonstruetion of Apparatus -for Aging Whisky and other Liquors; and that the following is a full, clear, and correct description ot' my invention, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, making part of this specification, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved apparatus for aging whisky. Fig. 2 is a sectional View ofthe same.

In the drawing like parts of the invention are pointed out by the same letters of reference.

The nature of the present invention consists in the construction, as more fully hereinafter set forth, of improved apparatus for the aging or ripening ot' whisky and other liquors; the object of the invention being to provide apparatus by which the commingling or uniting ofthe oxygen employed to age the whisky is thoroughly and rapidly accomplished.

To enable those skilled in the arts to make and use my invention, I will describe the saine.

A shows a gasometer, constructed in the usual manner, and supplied with oxygen gas by connecting it with a retort in which the oxygen gas is made; or the oxygen gas may be supplied to the gasometer in any convenient manner. The gasometer A has inserted near its base an elbow, a, communicating with a pipe, B, provided with a cock, b, and elbow b2 at its upper end, connected With a short pipe, C, the opposite end of which is introduced into the top of the receptacle D for the Whisky or liquor to be aged. The elbow a is connected with a pipe, 1, inserted in an opening in the side ot' the gasometer A, and terminating about centrally in the same; and the gasometer A is also provided with a pipe, 2, terminating about centrally within it, and connected with a cock, 3, placed outside the gasometer at its bottom. This receptacle D may be formed of wood or any suitable material, is provided, as already stated, with a short pipe, C, one end of which is inserted in its top or upper end, and the opposite end of which is connected to the elbow b2, and also with a funnel, E, through which is passed one end of a pipe, the opposite end of which is inserted in a still or tank filled with Whisky or liquor, and through which pipe the whisky or liquor is introduced into the receptacle D, and which funnel E is, after the pipe connecting it with the still or tank has been removed, closed, and the receptacle rendered air-tight by means of a cap, F, screwed into, and ftting tightly, the funnel E. Upon the bottom ofthe receptacle D is secured, about centrally, a tube, G, extending very nearly to the top of the interior of the receptacle, provided with openings g at or near its base, and with a series of perforations, g2, at or near its top or upper end. The tube G is closed at the top by a plate, g3. Through a central opening in this top plate passes a rod, H, having secured upon its lower end the plunger I, consisting of a body ot' metal made sufficiently large at its base to nearly fill the interior of the tube G, and tapering gradually upward to the point at which it is united to the rod H; or the metal of which the rod H is composed may be continued in its manufacture, and the plunger I be formed of or from it'. The rod H extends above and outside of the top of the receptacle D, and is passed through a stuffingboX, J, secured in the top or cover of the receptacle D. The receptacle D is provided with a cock or faucet, K, at or near its bottom.

Such being the construction, the operation is as follows: The receptacle is first supplied or filled with whisky or liquor by means of a pipe connecting it with a still or tank, one end of which is inserted in the funnel E. After the receptacle has been filled the pipe is removed, and the funnel is closed by means of the cap F. After the receptacle has been lled the cock or faucet K is opened, and a quantity of the whisky or liquor is drawn therefrom, until the quantity iu the receptacle falls below the lower line of perforations gz in the tube G, and the cock b upon the pipe B is opened simultaneously with the opening of the cock K, and a sucient quantity ot' oxygen will pass from the gasometer A, through the pipes B and G, into the receptacle D, and till the space formerly occupied by the whisky or liquor. The plunger I, attached to the rod H, is now set in operation by connecting the upperend of the rod H to any motor capable ot' raising it, and the plunger rises in the tube G, und forces the whisky or other liquor above it through the perfbrations as its upward movement is continued, und the whisky or other liquor thus forced out of tho tube G through the perforutions g2 is seperated into small streams or currents, which are brought into conta-ct with und oxygenized by the oxygen introduced into the receptacle. As the plunger descends from the downward movement ot' the rod, a certain amount of oxygen is forced down to the buse ot' the tube G und out of the openings g, and is distributed through or united with the whisky or liquor contained in the receptacle.

The supply of oxygen from the gusomcter to the receptuclel) is kept up as required, und the operation of the rod and plunger is continued until all the whisky or liquor has been thoroughly oxygenized.

The value of oxygen :is a menus of aging Whiskyor liquor is too well known to need coinment here. By the use oi' apparatus constructed as I propose to construct it the oxygenation of whisky or liquor is thoroughly, rapidly, and cheaply done.

Having now set forth my invention, what I claim as new is- Tlle combination, with a gusometer, A, of a receptacle, l), provided with a tube, G, having the openings g und perforations g2, a rod, H, and plunger I, end suitable pipes for connecting the receptacle D and gasometer A, constructed and operating substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

HENRY G. DAYTON.

Witnesses:

A. SIDNEY DOANE, W. V. H. HICKS. 

